Look Who's 7!!

Christian turned 7 today! He had a great time with all of his friends this afternoon, and got a lot of great new toys to clutter up his room! After the kids left, I took a 4 hour nap....can you say, "exhaustion"?

Tyler kids!

Austin's 1st Car!

Here it is! A '93 Eagle Talon. It's a bit of a project, but Bruce & Austin are excited to work on it together!

A Car for Austin!

So, Bruce and Austin have spent the past three days shopping for Austin's 1st car. Let's just say that the pictures posted on craigslist don't tell the whole story! I'll put a few of them in the blog so you can get an idea of what Austin's looking for! Anyway, they've been around Allen, Plano, McKinney, Garland, Carrolton and as Ira tells it...all the way out to the "Middle of Othian!" otherwise known as Midlothian! So far there's only one prospect and that one's still a project! Any advice?

At the Airport

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home...
Glad as I can be....
Clap my hands and shout for joy....
Pat his cheeks & give him what?
Baby Noah....isn't he cute?!

Family

family

and more family!

Home at Last!

Finally! It was a LLLOOOONNNNGGGG 4 1/2 months, but it's over now and there won't be any more deployments or field exercises or TDY's!!! For the next week, I'm going to be completely selfish and keep him all to myself, but I'll share with the kids when they get home from school.

Most of the family greeted Bruce by waving small American flags as he came off the plane. He wasn't expecting to see such a large welcoming party, but he was thrilled be home and surrounded by the family. Then it was on to our new home for cake and ice cream with Ira, Nancy & Mom and the entire Hopewell clan sans the Bjorns & Jordan who were definately missed! If only Craig could've been here, it would've been perfect!

WooHoo!!

One more day til Bruce gets here! Feel the excitement??!! Ira's been busy at my house doing a lot of "honey do" stuff for me...I think he has an ulterior motive though. He's discovered the joys of running and working out and he figures the less Bruce has to do when he gets here, the more time he'll have to hit the gym with Ira!! Yesterday though was a comedy of errors for Ira. He offered to install a couple of shower heads for me in the upstairs bathrooms. He misunderstood which shower head went to which bathroom and ended up installing the head for the master in Austin's shower, knocking down the shower curtain and caddy and sending the condiments (his word for shampoo & conditioner) flying. Then he called me and found out he'd gone through all that only to have to uninstall it and reinstall it upstairs. After that, he installed Ashley's shower head and tightened it just one twist too many, cracking the whole head!! So, on to Target to get a replacement. I just wish I'd been home to witness the humor!!

Ashley turned 20 yesterday...no longer a teenager! We both got our hair done by a stylist extraordinaire...Nancy! After 4 hours at the salon, we both left feeling completely beautiful! I only wish I could figure out where to get my own personal "Nancy" to do my hair everyday!

School Days

It's been another hectic morning getting up at the crack of dawn to take Austin to seminary, me to the gym, making lunches, finishing homework (yes, I still do homework....isn't that what all moms do?), taking Ashley to work and getting the kids to school on time. I'm tired and just want to go back to bed! Can't do that though....only three more days until Bruce gets home and there's still so much to do! I'll get it done and then when Bruce gets here he can take over all the taxiing for a while.

On a side note though, my six year old makes me laugh! Yesterday, Aunt Roxi asked Christian what his favorite thing about school was. His first response was "lunch!" Second response, "leaving!" He told me not long ago in a very mature voice, "Mom, school is not my thing!" LOL Gotta love him!

Where oh where is the plumber?

So, a general handyman came today...not a plumber! Before he came, I only had a little problem. Now I have a kitchen sink full of water that won't drain! Apparently there is a really big clog somewhere under the house! Has the realtor gotten a plumber over here yet? NOPE!

Settling in...finally!

Well, we're finally moved in and enjoying being in our own place again after 4 months of homelessness! And I'm about unpacked...I only have to finish unpacking boxes in the kitchen, dining room, game room, Austin's room, Sarah's room, my room and the garage! No really it's not that much and hopefully it'll all be done before the weekend. Bruce comes home from Japan on Sunday...finally! We have missed him so much and I have a huge "honey-do" list for him! The first thing on the list is GET A JOB! You all know that he jokes about being a Walmart greeter, but I just don't think that'll bring home the bacon...maybe Spam, but definately not bacon! Well, I have tons to write about, but no time right now...the plumber's on his way to figure out the drain problem in the kitchen. So far in the three weeks that we've lived here, the washing machine has overflowed twice and the dishwasher three times! Oh joy!